In Mr. Rodd’s valuable ‘List of British Birds as a guide to the Ornithology of Cornwall,’ it is stated 
that two instances only are on record of its capture in that county : “ one occurred in the month of Sep- 
tember 1846, when it was seen and shot on the flat sands between Penzance and Marazion; the other 
specimen, in a similar state of plumage, was killed in the latter part of September 1860, at a pool near 
Chun Castle, Morvah, by Mr. W. H. Vingoe.” Mr. Rodd elsewhere remarks: — “It appears that it does 
not confine itself to the tidal estuaries, but affects moorland marshes” — an inference coincident with that of 
Mr. Selby, who says, “from the circumstance of its having been killed at a distance from the coast, it 
probably frequents the lakes and rivers of the interior.” 
Vieillot has included this bird among the birds of France, on the strength of a specimen having been 
found by M. Jules de Lamotte, in Picardy. 
Although the Buff-breasted Sandpiper is, as I have stated, a native of both the South and North 
American continents, it is so far from being common there that its existence was known to neither Wilson nor 
Bonaparte, nor even to Auduhon, until communicated to him by Mr. Yarrell ; and after figuring 
the bird in his celebrated work from a specimen procured at Boston, he had to express his regret that he 
could “ say nothing respecting its habits and haunts, further than that, having seen a wing of it in the 
possession of my friend Captain James Clark Ross, I think it probable that it breeds near the Arctic 
circle, as he received the wing from the sailors, who had found it in the course of one of the numerous 
inland excursions in the desolate regions from which these intrepid navigators have recently returned.” 
Nuttall, in his ‘Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada,’ says; — “This elegant 
species, in some seasons, is not uncommon in the market of Boston, in the months of August and 
September, being met with near the capes of Massachusetts Bay. Specimens have also been obtained from 
the vicinity of New York, and it was first discovered in the then territory of Louisiana ; so that, coursing 
along the shores of the Mississippi, and thus penetrating inland, it probably proceeds, as well as in the 
vicinity of the sea-coast, to its northern destination to breed— dna is often here associated with the Pectoral 
Sandpiper, Avhich it resembles very much in size and bill, though perfectly distinct in plumage. Its food, 
while here, consists principally of land- and marine insects, particularly grasshoppers, which, abounding in 
the autumn, become the favourite prey of a variety of birds.” 
Mr. H. E. Dresser, who had opportunities of observing the bird during a visit to Southern Texas, says : — 
“The Buflf-breasted Sandpipers appeared late in August, and were generally found on some grass near the 
Lagoon at Matamoras, and not consorting with other Sandpipers. E?i route to San Antonio these birds Avere 
common ; they were seen in small flocks by the roadside, and in grassy places ; their habits called to mind 
those of the Kentish Plover ; they proved good eating, only they were too small.” 
I append a description of the bird in its finest state of plumage, taken from the specimens presented to me 
by Dr. Rae ; — 
Centres of the feathers of the head, back of the neck, and upper surface brownish black, their margins 
being light buflfy brown, tinged Avith reddish on the wing-coverts ; primaries dark brown, deepening into 
black towards the extremities, Avhich are slightly tipped with white ; their outer webs light broAvn ; their 
shafts nearly Avhite ; their inner Avebs margined Avith buffy grey, finely freckled Avith dark broAvn ; the 
lengthened secondaries dark brown, conspicuously margined with light broAvn tinged Avith reddish tOAvards 
the tips; rump and upper tail-coverts dark brown, margined with reddish bulT; two central tail-feathers 
brownish black, with light shafts and edges ; the lateral feathers light hroAvn, with a double mark near the 
tip of greyish Avhite and black extending doAvn the outer web ; the outer margin and the tip nearly Avhite ; 
sides of the head, front of the neck, breast, and under surface of the body buff, deepest on the breast, the 
sides of which are ornamented by a number of nearly round black spots, one at the tip of each feather ; 
on the abdomen, the feathers faintly margined Avith greyish Avhite ; under surface of the Aving white, Avith a 
few small spots of black at the inner edge of the shoulder; under Aving-coverts freckled, and with a large 
spot of black near the tip of each feather, these marks and the freckles on the inner Avebs of the primaries 
showing very conspicuously when the Aving is raised ; “ under surface of the secondaries ending in sabre- 
shaped points, presenting a series of lines formed by alternating shades of Avhite, black, and dusky bands, 
Avhich, in the adult, are AA^ell defined, and present a beautifully variegated appearance peculiar to this 
species ” {Yarrell^ ; bill black ; irides dark broAvn ; legs yelloAv. 
The figures are of the size of life. 
